The invention relates to a driver's or front passenger's airbag for motor vehicles.
An airbag of this type is used for protecting a motor vehicle occupant in a “head-on crash”, in which a vehicle collides head on with an obstacle, in particular is used for avoiding a collision of one of the front vehicle occupants with the windshield, the steering wheel or the dashboard. The gas bag of a generic driver's or front passenger's airbag has at least two gas bag sections which are separated from each other so that the gas bag, which is inflated by means of a gas generator, is provided, on its front side facing the occupant to be protected, with a gap running between the gas bag sections, and the gas bag sections are connected to one another exclusively on the rear side facing away from the occupant to be protected.
DE 100 33 937 A1 (incorporated by reference herein) discloses a gas bag for an occupant protection device in motor vehicles, which can be inflated by means of a gas generator and, when inflated, the outer covering of which forms a gap on its covering surface assigned to the occupant to be protected. The occupant to be protected may penetrate into the gap with a body part which faces the gas bag. If the occupant is out of position (“OOP”) during inflation of the airbag, the gap is expanded in order to reduce the collision of the occupant with the assigned covering surface of the gas bag. In addition, means, for example in the form of a sheet or sheet-like element, may be provided in order to brace the gas bag sections, which are separated from one another by the gap, relative to one another, so that after inflation the gas bag forms the same protection for an occupant in a normal position as a gas bag without a gap. However, it is ensured here by means of the arrangement and design of the sheet or sheet-like element that an occupant who is outside his/her normal sitting position and is bent forward toward the airbag module (corresponding to the “out of position situation”) may penetrate into the gas bag gap during inflation of the gas bag.
DE 201 02 115 U1 (incorporated by reference herein) discloses an “annular airbag” for a driver's or front passenger's airbag module, which has a chamber that is to be inflated annularly and which surrounds an inner indentation facing the occupant to be protected. With gas bags of this type, the intention is to obtain better restraint values if the occupant is out of position, by the fact that the front side of the gas bag that faces the occupant is accelerated less severely than in the case of gas bags without an annular chamber and, by this means the risk of the occupant being injured as a consequence of colliding with the unfolding gas bag is reduced. In this case, a closure part is fastened to the gas bag wall so that, when the gas bag is inflated, said closure part slides in front of the mouth of the indentation and thereby closes the indentation. As a result, the vehicle occupant to be protected cannot penetrate into the indentation.
The disadvantage of the known gas bags for an airbag module is that in spite of the reduced mechanical load on the occupant to be protected, said gas bags may, if the occupant is out of position, lead to a thermal load on the occupant to be protected if said occupant comes into contact with hot fabric parts of the gas bag, i.e. with fabric parts of the gas bag covering which have been heated by the hot gases used for inflation of the gas bag.